Property swap, public concerns among May council topics

This month’s regular meeting of the Sundance City Council saw land traded and premises loaned, with Dick Proctor’s long-awaited lot exchange finalized and the Food Pantry granted permission to inhabit the old daycare building.

The meeting began with an update on the West Street Crossing and Alley/Pathway projects, both of which have reached the stage of final paperwork, according to Kenny Rathbun of Bearlodge Industries Inc.

However, Don McKillop, representing DRM Industries, questioned the council’s proposed liquidated damages claim of $6000, which will be used to pay Bearlodge Inc. their requested extra fees for time run over on the latter project. He expressed concerns that DRM had not been contacted directly and were blindsided when they read about it in the newspaper.

Mayor Paul Brooks and City Attorney Mark Hughes assured DRM that the claim has not been finalized, only suggested at the last meeting of the council and subsequently investigated. They explained that the liquidated damages approach to paying Bearlodge Inc. the extra fees was proposed largely on the basis that the city, having never been presented with a change order for an extension to the project, is not liable for the extra time it took to complete.

A public hearing opened at 7:15 p.m. for the land exchange between the city and Dick Proctor and, there being no comments from the audience, a motion was passed to approve it. Proctor and Hughes noted that there had been a misprint in the advertisement sent to the Sundance Times, listing the Proctor plot at 3239 square feet instead of 4239.

Karla Zenz of TriHydro, the newly appointed city engineers, provided an update on the transfer station, confirming that one Department of Environmental Quality permit has been approved and another is pending. Following this, a second reading of the ordinance appropriating money for the 12-month period beginning on July 1 of this year was approved.

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